(Persia Digest) – Ghayen Grand Mosque in South Kohrasan Province is over a thousand years old. It is Ghayen’s tallest building and a masterpiece of Iranian-Islamic architecture.

Various narrations exist on the establishment date of Ghayen Grand Mosque. Some believe it was built over the remains of a Sassanid fire temple and others name the end of the Ilkhani and start of the Teimuri dynasties as the date.

The main ivan of the mosque has a four-part vault and three domes tastefully decorated with mosaic tiles. The murals of the ivan were in the Isfahan style of paintings decorated under the Safavid and painted over later.

Ghayen Grand Mosque is the only survivor of a city visited by Nasser-Khosro in 10523 CE (444 AH) who commented on its grand size. Other famous personalities such as Marco Polo have also mentioned the mosque.

A noteworthy feature of the mosque is its two qiblah, one facing al-Quds and the other the Kaaba. An exquisite wooden rostrum was built for the mosque in 1671 from sycamore wood with an inscription in Naskh calligraphy carved on it.